Orioles

Grays

Red Stockings

Colonels

Metropolitans

Athletics

Alleghenys

Browns

Locations of teams for the 1886American Association season
American Association

Beaneaters

White Stockings

     Wolverines

   Cowboys

Giants

Quakers

Maroons

Nationals

Locations of teams for the 1886National League season
National League

The1886 major league baseball season began on April 17, 1886. The regular season ended on October 15, with theChicago White Stockings and theSt. Louis Browns as regular season champions of theNational League andAmerican Association, respectively. The postseason began with Game 1 of thethird World's Championship Series on October 18 and ended with Game 6 on October 23, in what was abest-of-seven-playoff. The Browns defeated the White Stockings, four games to two, capturing their first World's Championship Series.

Over the offseason, the National League'sBuffalo Bisons transfer into the minor leagueInternational League andProvidence Grays fold. The two open spots are filled by the newly enfranchisedKansas City Cowboys andWashington Nationals.

The 1886 schedule consisted of 140 games for all American Association teams and 126 games for all National League, each of which had eight teams. Each AA team was scheduled to play 20 games against the other seven teams, while each NL team was scheduled to play 18 games against the other seven teams. Both the AA's 140-game format and NL's 126-game format were newly-implementation for the 1886 season, each replacing the 112-game, 16 games against the other seven teams format that both leagues had from 1884 and 1885. The NL would adopt the AA's format in1888, and each league would use this 140-game format until1892.

American Association Opening Day took place on April 17 featuring six teams, while National League Opening Day took place on April 29, also featuring six teams. The American Association would see its final day of the regular season on October 15 with adoubleheader between theNew York Metropolitans andPhiladelphia Athletics, while the National League would see its final day of the season on October 11 with a game between theKansas City Cowboys andWashington Nationals.^[1] The1886 World's Championship Series took place between October 18 and October 23.

The 1886 season saw the following rule changes:

• Stolen bases became an official statistic.^[2]
• In the American Association, six balls became abase on balls, down from eight, while in the National League, seven balls became a base on balls, up from six.
• Thepitcher's box was extended by one foot in the direction of second base, from six to seven feet.^[3]
  • In the American Association, a one-foot-long by four-foot-wide smooth flat stone was placed in front of the pitcher's box.^[4]
• In the American Association thebatter's box was extended by one foot in width, on either side of home plate, expanding from three feet wide and one foot from home plate to four feet wide and six inches from home plate, copying the change the National League did theprevious season.^[3][5]
• The American Association allowed home plate to be made out of white stone.^[5]
• The reserve rule was expanded to cover 12 players on each team, up from 11 established in1883.^[3]

Blue laws restricted Sunday activities in several localities, causing theBrooklyn Grays of the American Association (which was informally referred to as the "Beer & Whiskey League" due to its openness onalcohol, compared to the National League) to play at ballparks in a different locality.

*Denotes walk-off

Any team shown insmall text indicates a previous team a player was on during the season.

• 1886 Major League Baseball season schedule at Baseball Reference

• 1886 Major League Baseball season
• Major League Baseball seasons

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